‘Is that all you’ve got to say to me? We thought you were dead. Mum still thinks you’re dead!’ Annabel didn’t sound upset, just angry. Jessica was already feeling guilty about what she had asked the woman to do and was wondering if she had gone too far.

‘You don’t understand,’ Toby said dismissively.

‘So make me.’

‘I got bored. All the kids at school had everything I didn’t, Mum and Dad argued all the time. You got the best things because you were older.’

‘Are you joking? That’s it? You were only ten.’

‘Eleven.’

Annabel shook her head and kicked at the floor. ‘You’re disgusting.’

Jessica wondered how bad things could have been, but then she remembered Annabel had also left home and not returned. Lucy’s account might well have put a rose-tinted view on what life was like with her and Dean. What Jessica did know is that there had to be something seriously wrong to make an eleven-year-old want to leave his birth parents and not go back. Everyone had moments as a child where they threatened to leave home and not return. To have actually gone through with it must have meant he either genuinely hated it there or, even at such a young age, he was materialistic enough to put gifts above everything else. She didn’t know which category Toby fell into.

‘You moved out too,’ Toby said.

‘How do you know that?’

‘I looked you up on the Internet a few years ago. I saw you’d moved and wondered if you were thinking like me. I was going to contact you but Dad convinced me not to.’

‘“Dad?”’

Toby didn’t reply to Annabel but looked towards Jessica. ‘Can I go now?’

Jessica narrowed her eyes and stared at him. ‘Did you ever live in this shed, Toby?’

‘For a bit.’

‘Do you know we found your old clothes? The football shirt and the rest.’

Toby smiled and shook his head mockingly. ‘It was in the papers, I’m not an idiot. Who do you think buried them there? It was time to say goodbye to the old Toby for good and embrace Stephen.’

‘Why those woods?’

The man shrugged. ‘Why should I tell you?’

‘Tell me,’ Annabel shouted. ‘I’m still your sister.’

For the first time, Jessica could see pangs of regret in Toby’s face. He looked at the ground, as if embarrassed with himself. ‘Did you miss me?’ he asked quietly. There was no edge to his tone, it was a genuine question.

‘Of course I did. I was your older sister.’

Toby nodded. ‘I missed you too.’

‘Why those woods, Toby?’ Jessica asked again.

Toby didn’t adjust his position and seemed to reply without thinking. ‘I wanted to return them to that place where we used to play football. I hadn’t been around there in years but, when I went back, there were all these factories. I found those woods by accident but it was quiet and no one was around. It just felt right, like coming full circle.’

‘What about Isaac Hutchings?’ she asked.

‘What about him?’ The response was instant and dismissive.

‘Why did you take him?’

‘Who says I did?’ Toby turned to meet Jessica’s gaze, his eyes defiant, daring her to give him a good reason to continue speaking.

‘What do you usually call Deborah?’ Jessica asked.

‘Why?’

‘Just answer the question.’

Toby smiled slightly, shaking his head as if pitying the question. ‘I call her Mum, because she is.’

Jessica nodded. ‘You’ve got two options now, Toby. Option one is you tell me everything, then I take you to the station and you repeat it all on tape.’

‘Why would I do that?’ Toby grinned and stood. ‘You’ve got nothing on me. This is ridiculous, dragging my sister out because you think it’ll make me confess.’

‘You only listened to option one.’

‘Fine, what’s the second one?’

‘Option two is I open that door and let you walk. Then I get in my car and drive straight to Deborah’s house. I’ll arrest her not only for your kidnap but for the kidnap and murder of Isaac Hutchings. Either way, I get a conviction and me and my colleagues look shit-fucking-hot. Personally, I don’t care who goes down for it. It’s your choice.’

It was as big a lie as Jessica could have told.

‘How can you arrest her? You don’t have anything on her.’

‘Really? Well, for one, I sent you a text message using Deborah’s phone asking you to meet her at the shed. The fact you didn’t question her knowledge of it tells me she knows all about this place. Admittedly that could never be used as evidence but it’s a start. What could be used is all the little bits. How about I go find some of your old neighbours and ask them about little Stephen? How do you think that would go down in court along with the official records to show she never had a child? What about the photos at Benjamin’s house with you, him and her? That’s pretty damning. It might be circumstantial but how do you think a jury would view that in relation to Isaac’s disappearance and everything that’s already been in the media? I’m sure if we really looked into her alibi for that time Isaac was missing we might find a hole here or there. Do you want to take that risk?’

Toby stared at Jessica, eyes bulging with fury. ‘It wasn’t her.’

‘Do you think a jury will believe that?’ Jessica raised herself up from the seat and met the man’s gaze, assuring him she was serious, even though she had no idea if she would be able to find anything like enough evidence.

‘What do you want me to do?’

‘I want you to sit down and tell me everything. Then I want you to go to the station and repeat it all.’

‘What about Mum?’

‘It’s up to you. If you want to tell us your name is Stephen and conveniently forget the Toby stuff, I couldn’t care less. I’m not helping you though so you’d better have your story straight. Somewhere along the line you must have sorted yourself out with an identity but I don’t want to know. The deal is you tell us everything you did and, if no one asks any other questions about Deborah, then she’s off the hook. If you drop her in it, then tough shit.’

Toby stared at Jessica before slumping to the floor, holding his legs to his chest. He looked across at Annabel, who had returned to the chair. ‘I’m sorry,’ he said.

The woman didn’t reply.

‘Are you sure you want to hear this?’ Jessica asked, turning towards Annabel. The young woman nodded gently but didn’t seem completely aware of where she was. Her eyes had drifted towards the ceiling and her skin had turned pale. ‘Are you okay?’ Jessica added.

‘Yes.’

Jessica eyed her, wondering what she should do. Before she could say anything further, Toby began to talk. ‘I just wanted something like I had with Mum and Dad.’

Jessica looked back from Annabel to Toby. He was cradling himself, rocking gently on the floor. ‘What do you mean?’

‘I wanted a child of my own. That’s why I was done with the old “Toby”. I put together this list. They were all children with brothers or sisters. They’d all been in trouble at school and so on.’

‘Where did you get the information?’

‘I do temping at the LEA office. It’s all there.’

‘The Local Education Authority?’

‘Yeah, it’s amazing what companies give you access to when you get a temporary pass. I did some work at the council offices last year and managed to search through the full council tax records for everyone.’

It was such a matter-of-fact statement that Jessica didn’t doubt him. His tone was completely uncaring, as if talking to a friend in the pub. She knew the exact details of what he did and how he found that information could be sorted out at a later date. ‘What did you do when you had the names?’

‘I went and watched them. Some barely left their houses but others would go to the park or whatever. Eventually I came up with a list of lads who I thought might want a new dad . . . like I did.’

‘You made a list of kids to take?’ Annabel spat out the words, then stood, pacing at the other end of the shed. Toby didn’t answer.